sweet! I'll give it a shot. and thanks for the explanation of what you do with the A/C/E budgets, valvorik!

Does that "Rules Question" link actually get answers? I haven't seen hardly any official FFG replies on these forums so I just assumed we were all pretty much on our own, which is why I came to this super knowledgeable and helpful community!

I can't seem to find any ruling on this in the Core Rules or Creature Guide. I don't own the GM's guide. Can a NPC's Cunning pool be used to add white dice to cast an offensive spell action? I guess what isn't clear is if the A/C/E budget breaks down to this: Aggression - Add to Physical Stat based actions and skills Cunning - Add to Mental Stat based actions and skills or this Aggression - Add to any Combat action or skill Cunning - Add to any Social action or skill What are other GM's doing here? Thanks!

I appreciate the responses and they have got me thinking. But first a little info if you are interested. The wipe was partially the party's fault, partially mine. I made all the Ungors full strength instead of henchmen, because I always thought the idea of henchmen were lame. Now, I see they were exactly what this encounter needed: cannon fodder the party could quickly take out. It's just usually the party utterly destroys every group of adversaries I throw at them so I have been unable to gauge what they could really take on. The skull "threat" rating for monsters doesn't really seem to mean anything. However, it was also partly the party's fault. Foaldeath told them to concentrate on killing Izka so the herd would turn on itself. Instead of doing that, they took on two of the other beastmen groups. They did finally engage him and he took massive damage, but by then, it was too late. So my idea is to let one of the PC's die. They will all be revived to just consciousness, by the shaman, so they can witness the carnage of each other being sacrificed. When the first PC is led up to the herdstone by Foaldeath, I'm going to let Izka do his worst. I think the other PC's will get a bit scared at that point. During the ensuing rally cries and distraction of the beastmen to the bloodlust, Foaldeath will make his move. And in that ensuing chaos, the remaining PC's can make their escape... just barely. I haven't decided if they should be able to make off with the lightning stone or not. If they don't, what does that do to the story? And about not giving advances... I understand what you guys are saying. However, the whole point of roleplaying is for fun. We all had a blast in the encounter. I think the PC's actually did fairly good jobs roleplaying their characters. They just weren't tactical enough and I made an overpowered encounter. I still want the (remaining) PC's to be able to progress. I certainly don't want the players getting so disappointed they don't want to play anymore. I've actually slightly hinted at death to the one PC because he hasn't been that excited about the character he originally rolled and he was accepting of the possible outcome of the party wipe. I haven't let on any more than that, because I think this could probably turn out to be a very memorable experience for all of us and definitely keep the "grim and perilous" in the WFRP. Now, if only I can think of something darkly humorous Izka could say... >I must learn... from the pain.<

Hey guys, I was wondering if any GM's could offer some advice on how to handle a situation that has happened to my group of PC's. In "The Gathering Storm"... *SPOILERS ALERT* (sorry, I'm new to these forums. is there a "hide" or something?) ...the party went up against Izka and friends at the lightning stone / herdstone and lost badly. Every member of the party was knocked unconscious. Amazingly, none of them died from excessive criticals and I didn't even pull any rolls or fudge results. Now I know this is Warhammer roleplay and there are going to be some GM's who say "just let them die and roll new characters", okay I hear you. That's one way to handle it. I'm looking for some other, maybe more creative, suggestions. I'm sure there could be some great ideas out there. They have met Foaldeath but don't have a clue he's a beatsman. They just thought he was a creepy hooded swamp shaman. I have had the thought the PC's could be tied up and Foaldeath could free them. The PC's actually dealt some significant wounds to Izka, I think 12 out of 18, so Foaldeath could potentially finish him off and free the PC's, but what would the rest of the herd think about that? Would they be too swept up in fighting for a new Wargor which could cover Foaldeath freeing the PC's? I'd love to hear any other ideas GM's might have. Also, seems like a pretty cool community here. I've been lurking for a bit and this is my first post. Thanks!